Daily Top-10 Current Affairs MCQs / News (July 21, 2020) for CSS, PMS

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July 21, 2020: National / International Current Affairs

1. HRCP terms govt response to Covid-19 unsatisfactory

• The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has declared the government`s response to Covid-19 unsatisfactory but the latter again claimed that apart from Karachi the situation across the country is under control.
• While replying to a call attention notice in the National Assembly, Parliamentary Secretary on National Health Services (NHS) Dr Nausheen Hamid said all indicators were showing that the spread of the virus had been reduced in Pakistan and neighbouring Iran and Afghanistan.
• The call attention notice titled `matter of urgent public importance regarding alarming decrease in the testing for Covid19 in the country, causing grave concern amongst the public` was submitted by Pakistan Peoples Party`s legislators Syed Naveed Qamar, Shazia Marri, Dr Shazia Sobia, Aslam Soomro, Mahesh Kumar Malani and Nawabzada Iftikhar Ahmed Khan Babar.

2. Mari discovers gas at Hilal-1

• Mari Petroleum Company Ltd announced gas discovery at exploratory well Hilal-1 in Mari D&P Lease Area, Daharki, District Ghotki in Sindh.
• In a notice to the PSX, the company stated that it was the fifth consecutive new discovery in Mari D&P Lease Area based on 1,079 sq km carpet 3D seismic survey of the area in 2015, which was followed by an extensive drilling programme.
• Hilal-1 was spud-in on April 21 and drilled down to the depth of 1,202 metres into Sui Main Limestone (SML). Upon testing, the well flowed gas from Sui Upper Limestone formation at a flow rate of 11mmcfd with flowing well head pressure of 887 PSI at choke size of 48`/64`.

3. Study claims hydroxyl chloroquine is safe, effective to cure Covid

• The preliminary results of the country`s largest drug trial on the coronavirus Pakistan Randomized and Observational Trial to Evaluate Coronavirus Treatment (PROT ECT) has not only established the safety of hydroxychloroquine, a drug generally used for malaria, in terms of mortality but has also shown significant recovery rates in Covid19 patients when used in combination with two other drugs azithromycin and oseltamivir.
• This claims as well as the results were made public here at the University of Health Sciences (UHS), on July 20, 2020, in a ceremony, which was presided by Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar and attended by Punjab Minister for Higher Education Raja Yassir Humayun Sarfraz, vice chancellors of the medical universities, researchers and faculty members.

4. Live streaming app Bigo banned in Pakistan

• The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) banned live streaming application Bigo and issued a `final warning` to video-sharing service TikTok over obscene and immoral content on the platforms.
• TikTok is a Chinese social networking app that allows users to make video clips, lip sync to songs and create short videos.
• Last week, a civil miscellaneous application was filed in the Lahore High Court demanding an immediate ban on TikTok. The petitioner said the app was a `great mischief of modern times` and had become a source of spreading pornography for the sake of fame and ratings on social media.

5. First IHC chief justice passes away

• Former judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan Sardar Mohammad Aslam, who was the first chief justice of Islamabad High Coun (IHC), died on July 18, 2020.
• Justice Aslam had tested positive forCovid-19 and was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of Military Hospital in Rawalpindi. However, family sources claimed that he died of a cardiac arrest.
• Justice Aslam, who was an eminent lawyer, remained a judge of Lahore High Court (LHC).

6. Two studies offer hope for Covid-19 vaccine

• Two studies offered new hope of a potential vaccine for the novel coronavirus on Monday, seven months after the disease was first identified in China and spread rapidly across the globe.
• The positive news came as alarm grows over fresh outbreaks of the disease that has killed more than 600,000 people worldwide and battered economies with months of shutdowns meant to stop its spread.
• Divided EU leaders struggled at a summit on Monday to salvage a 750-bilhon-euro coronavirus aid package for their region, even as countries from Australia to France tightened restrictions to curb new outbreaks.

7. Putin names new governor for region hit by protests

• Russian President Vladimir Putin named a new leader of the Far Eastern region of Khabarovsk from the nationalist LDPR party on July 20, 2020 after the arrest of its popular governor brought thousands to the streets.
• Putin sacked Sergei Furgal, who was detained this month on murder charges, and named LDPR lawmaker Mikhail Degtyarev, 39, as his replacement.
• A Kremlin decree said Furgal was sacked over a `loss of confidence` in his ability to govern.

8. First Arab space mission to Mars launched

• A United Arab Emirates spacecraft rocketed into blue skies from a Japanese launch centre on July 20, 2020 at the start of a seven-month journey to Mars on the Arab world`s first interplanetary mission.
• The liftoff of the Mars orbiter named Amal, or Hope, starts a rush to fly to Earth`s neighbour that is scheduled to be followed in the next few days by China and the United States.
• At the space centre in Dubai, people watching were transfixed by the liftoff, then cheered and clapped, with one woman with offering a celebratory cry common for weddings.

9. UK suspends extradition treaty with Hong Kong

• Britain on July 20, 2020 risked worsening strained ties with China, as it suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong in protest at a controversial new security law in the territory.
• Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab confirmed the widely expected move in parliament, despite Chinese warnings that Britain was making a grave foreign policy error and risked reprisals.
• He also announced an extension to Hong Kong of an arms embargo of `potentially lethal weapons` already in force against mainland China for the last three decades

10. ICC postpones T20 World Cup until next year

• This year`s Twenty20 World Cup became a high-profile casualty of the Covid-19 pandemic on July 20, 2020 after the sport`s governing International Cricket Council (ICC) postponed the tournament scheduled in October November.
• The ICC has been exploring contingency plans since hosts Cricket Australia (CA) acknowledged the logistical challenges involved in staging a 16-team tournament amid travel and other restrictions this year.
• Officials said they now hoped to stage the tournament from October to November 2021.

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